QLD’s dire employment record no barrier for campaign
Queensland has been languishing in this key area for much of Labor’s time in power according to new analysis but that won’t stop Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk trying to turn it into an asset.
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Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says she will stand on her record of job creation despite Queensland’s employment rate languishing in the doldrums for much of her time in power.
Analysis of employment data shows Queensland has recorded the worst or second worst monthly unemployment rate of any state 39 times since Ms Palaszczuk came to power, or about 60 per cent of the time.
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That record has slumped further in the past 19 months with the state’s unemployment rate on the bottom rungs of the chart on 15 occasions.
Asked yesterday how Queenslanders could have faith in her creating jobs during the COVID employment crisis when the state had been a laggard in better economic times, Ms Palaszczuk said she would “stand on my record”.
“So let me say very clearly, before COVID, my government developed five surpluses and we created 250,000 jobs, our unemployment rate dropped below 6 per cent and then COVID hit, and it’s been a world pandemic,” she said.
One of the big growth areas for jobs since she took power has been in the public service, which has ballooned by more than 33,000 workers since 2015.
Just before the nation went into lockdown in late March, Queensland’s unemployment rate sat at 5.6 per cent, the second highest of any state and lagging leading states New South Wales and Tasmania, which were on 4.9 per cent.
Since then, Queensland’s unemployment rate has spiked to 7.7 per cent, leaving it as the worst in the nation in September, trailing even Victoria which was in lockdown.
Ms Palaszczuk repeated yesterday that her government’s handling of the pandemic had saved the Queensland economy from Victoria’s fate.
“Now let me say this, if you don’t have a strong health response, you don’t have an economy,” she said.
“Take Victoria for an example, people are not working. People were locked in their homes. They weren’t going out.”
It is more than three years since Queensland’s employment rate has been in the top two of the states.
In more than five years in power, Ms Palaszczuk has never recorded the nation’s best employment rate.
She has repeatedly promised to “create jobs in every corner of the state if re-elected” during the campaign.
Originally published as QLD’s dire employment record no barrier for campaign